Many teachers are choosing not to return to the classroom because of the coronavirus threat, and schools across the U.S. are scrambling to find replacements. That sometimes means lowering certification requirements to help get substitutes in the door.
**HOLD FOR STORY BY CASEY SMITH**Kay Orzechowicz poses Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2020, for a portrait with the family dog Buddy, at her Griffith, Ind., home. After 35 years of teaching, Orzechowicz said COVID-19 "pushed her over the edge" to retire from northwest Indiana's Griffith High School at the end of July. Turning 58 in October, Orzechowicz had hoped to keep teaching for a few more years before retiring from the classroom.
“Overall, there was just this utter disrespect for teachers and their lives,” she said. “We’re expected to be going back with so little.” When school leaders said teachers would be “going back in-person, full throttle, that’s when I said, ‘I’m not doing it. No.’” “I’ve gotten more calling me back saying, ‘Well, I’m going to go ahead and retire,’” Whitcomb said. “Some still wanted to go back in the classroom, but they didn’t think the risk was worth it. They looked at their grandkids and the life they have, and I think they’re saying, ‘I’m just not going to do it.’”In Salt Lake County, Utah, the state’s most populated metropolitan area, more than 80 teachers have either resigned or retired early because of concerns about COVID-19 in schools.
Education leaders in states including Arizona, Kansas, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Texas have said they are bracing for worsening teacher shortages as the pandemic drives away some educators.
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